It is well known to provide a restraint belt for restraining a vehicle occupant upon a vehicle seat. It is also well known to provide a retractor having a spring biased reel to which one end of the restraint belt is attached to wind and unwind the belt for movement between restraining and stored positions. It is also well known to provide a deceleration sensitive locking mechanism for fixing the length of the belt against extension from the retractor reel when the restraint belt is established in the restraining position.
The present invention provides a new and improved retracting mechanism for extending and retracting a belt and locking the belt at a fixed length in response to the sensing of a predetermined magnitude of vehicle deceleration.